NYS Parole Board Passes Revised Regulations

News • May 21, 2014

On April 21, the New York State Parole Board voted unanimously to adopt the revised regulations guiding parole release decisions. Despite receiving hundreds of comments from so many of us — directly impacted individuals, community members, advocates, and lawmakers — urging specific changes in the regulations, the Board took less than three minutes to adopt them without any of the recommended revisions.

This is an unfortunate development and an enormous failure to affect meaningful change. The adoption of these regulations as they are will allow the Parole Board to continue to refuse to release people when they pose a low risk to public safety and have demonstrated a strong readiness to successfully re-enter society. In addition to contributing even more to the problem of mass incarceration, the application of these regulations is poor public and fiscal policy — wasting much-needed dollars and depriving communities of the positive contributions their loved ones can make once they are released. The Parole Board has once again shirked its responsibility to apply objective and consistent criteria when making release decisions. We must continue to make our voices heard and push for change in the way the Parole Board operates.

New York, NY (December 13, 2017): Today The Correctional Assn. of NY (CA), founded in 1844 and one of the oldest prison watchdog organizations in the country, released a 92-page report providing graphic first-hand depictions of physical, mental, and emotional abuse as a result of days, weeks, and often years of being caged in solitary confinement for 23 to 24 hours a day.Read More

Press

ALBANY — New York’s complex of 54 state prison facilities is struggling to fill vacant jobs for nurses, doctors and other health care providers. Filling those vacancies and dealing with an aging prison population at facilities across the state have become among the tallest challenges for the $3 billion correctional system, top administrators concede. In [...]Read More

“The isolation itself is torture. Mentally and emotionally, it breaks you down. Spiritually it strips you. The way it is built is to break you down as a person and push your family away.” From “Solitary at Southport” Solitary confinement is torture. New York State subjects people to solitary confinement and other forms of isolation [...]Read More